Interns
by Tang Si Ming-Yue
Summary: Aang, an intern for the FBI, has fallen hopelessly in love with his fellow intern Katara. Unfortunately, she has a boyfriend that she can't seem to part with, despite her trying. But all this seems to lead Aang into something bigger than he could imagine.


A/N: So I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and I really liked it. I noticed that I'm one of the few that make modern settings for the characters…

And if this seems rather long… that's because it was, in my head, a multichapter fic. But I figured y'all would just say, "Man, Tangy, ANOTHER fic you're not gonna update any time soon?" So I'm just gonna make it one big oneshot.

And to those of you who are wondering why I haven't been active on the site lately, it's because I don't have time. Really. NONE. Theatre, band, honors classes, it's all swarming me. I barely have time to sleep. I started this when I had swine flu a few months ago, and now with the holiday break almost over, I'm finishing it.

And so…

Disclaimer: Sokka! It's been so long!

Sokka: What? No, it hasn't! I was talking to you yesterday!

Me: No you weren't!

Sokka: Uh, YEAH, I was! Remember? That imaginary conversation in your head when you –

Me: OKAYYYY, how bout you just disclaim, kay?

Sokka: Tangy don't own  
So you don't sue  
Now go away  
You bag of –

Me: SOKKA.

Sokka: What?! I was gonna say pretzels! _Geez…_

(p.s. When I say "I don't own it", I'm talking about anything related to Avatar, Starbucks, and the FBI (Oh! And "The Lion King", which I use in my review threat later on ;D).)

(p.p.s. Jet's last name in here is pronounced _tree-lee._ Don't ask.)

**Interns**

Aang unconsciously fingered the tie around his neck. He felt the knot in it, making sure it was good and tight as he looked up at the large, oak doors in front of him. He looked at his wristwatch – it read 7:48. That would give him enough time to find what he was looking for.

But what if it wasn't enough time? What if Aang couldn't find the right room by eight and he was fired before he had even started his job? This wasn't just any job, after all. He was interning for the FBI – after a year of doing this, he could be doing major things to save the country, maybe even the world, with the FBI! If he got fired today, he could lose all of his progress so far!

Aang stopped thinking for just a minute. He took an unsteady breath in before letting it out. He could do this. He had worked hard to get here. He wouldn't be here if he didn't deserve it! All he had to worry about was the other intern he was working with. As long as that guy didn't mess anything up, Aang would be just fine.

Aang remembered the guy he had worked with when he worked at a police station. Jet claimed he wanted to do great things for the greater good, but he never did a thing. Aang did all the work while Jet wandered after him carrying as many guns as he could, attempting to pick up girls on the sidewalk as they drove from place to place in their cop car.

Needless to say, Jet was "let go".

Oh, Spirits. Aang was getting nervous again. What if his other intern was_ worse_ than Jet?

_No, no, no!_ He couldn't start panicking. Aang had to be ready and suave today. He took in another deep breath. He could handle another Jet for a year… he would have to. And besides, he didn't even _know_ if this guy would be another Jet! For all he knew, his fellow intern could be a pleasant guy.

And if this guy_ was _another Jet, Aang wouldn't carry the weight this time. He would _drop_ that guy and leave him groveling along, wishing he had done his share of the work. He would be _begging_ Aang for help out of his –

Aang was shaken from his thoughts by someone running into him from behind. He heard a bag or purse of some kind clatter to the ground and various items fall out. "Oh, _damn,"_ he heard a feminine voice mutter. "I'm so sorry, mister."

Aang turned around to see who was addressing him, and he felt his heart stop the moment he did. The woman who had run into him was _gorgeous._ She looked about his age – maybe a year younger at the most. Her deep brown hair was twisted into a loose bun on her head, her bangs falling into her face just a little bit. She wore a white button-up shirt with a grey pencil skirt and a pair of black heels, and – _crap,_ he should probably stop gawking and help her pick up her stuff!

Aang got on the ground next to her and began to help the woman gather her things. Remembering her apology from earlier, he said, "It's fine, it's – _awesome,_ really."

The woman laughed – a rather pretty laugh at that. She stood up, everything safely back in her purse, and Aang did as well. "So do you work here?" she asked, motioning to the headquarters. "I'm starting today, and I'm not sure of where I need to go."

Aang was able to put two and two together. "Are you one of two new interns?" he asked, crossing his fingers behind his back.

"Yep," she nodded proudly with a wide smile on her face. "That's me!"

"I am, too!" Aang said, joining in her smiling.

"That's so great!" the woman said, clapping her hands together. "I was afraid I was going to get stuck with some jerk like I was at the department I was working at last."

"I know what you mean," Aang said, unable to stop his grinning. "I worked with the _biggest_ jerk. He left me with all the work."

"Same here!" the woman said, laughing. "But I'm thankful I'm working with someone like you."

Aang's heart could not have been beating faster.

"So, since we'll be working together for a while, we should introduce ourselves."

"Oh! Right," Aang said. "I'm Aang, Aang Gyatso."

"I'm Katara Chi," the woman said. She took Aang's hand in hers and shook. Katara looked the watch on her impossibly tiny wrist. "It's 7:55. We need to hurry if we don't want to be late."

"Right," Aang said. "Let's go, then!"

Together, they walked into the large building and after asking a rather large man in the lobby, they took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor where they were greeted by a tall, middle-aged man with a moustache.

"Hello," the man said, standing up. "I'm Ling Shui; I'm the head of things here as you know." Ling Shui looked at his watch. "8:00 on the dot! I like punctuality."

He looked at Aang. "You must be Aang," he said, shaking his hand rather hard. "You're a little on the scrawny side, but still quite a strapping young man! I've heard some great stories from your boss, Aang, I'm sure you'll do fantastic here."

"Thank you, sir," Aang said, only slightly insulted by the scrawny comment.

Ling Shui turned to Katara. "And Katara!" he said, shaking her hand as well. "You're beautiful, much prettier than all of us here in the department imagined."

"I'm flattered, sir," Katara said, her face turning red.

"I've heard some wonderful things about you as well, Miss Katara; I think you and Aang will make a glorious team."

"I think so too, sir," Aang said. He saw Katara smile at him.

"I'm assuming you two have already met, so let's get down to business," Mr. Shui said. He led them out of the little lobby-like room and into the next. It was a tiny room with two doors on the back wall that Aang guessed would lead to more offices, a meeting room, maybe even a lounge. There were two large, wooden desks with a very official-looking computer and a tray for paperwork sitting on each. Filing cabinets and shelves lined the east wall and on the west, there was a large window looking out on the front of the building.

"You're welcome to personalize it some," Ling said. "It's a little bland, I know. You two can fight over the window desk. Anyways, you'll be doing mainly paperwork – filing, organizing, filling things out, that sort of thing. You'll be scheduling appointments as well; you're a little bit like assistants, actually. You might be asked to work on a very minor assignment every now and again, but it's very unlikely. _Our_ lunch break is from 12:00 to 12:30 while _yours_ is from 12:30 to 1:00, and you get off at 7:00. It's a little late, but hey, we have serious work here to do. That sound okay to you two?"

Aang and Katara both nodded.

"Great! I look forward to seeing how well you both do here. I'll just leave you to your work, then. All the phone numbers addresses, emails, and fax numbers you'll need are on the computer, I already have all of your information, and if you need me, I'll be in my office." Ling Shui left through the back door on the left, leaving Aang and Katara to start their first day.

"This room _is_ pretty dull," Katara said, mindlessly wandering between the desks. She turned to Aang. "You want the window?"

Aang shook his head. "Nah, you take it." Katara smiled and sat in the desk. Aang did the same at his desk and began to set up his computer.

Password? Let's see… Aang typed in _harddaysnight,_ the title of one of his favorite Beatles songs. He picked a random default picture for his desktop before turning off the computer and starting on some of the papers in the tray on his desk.

He spotted Katara scribbling away in a little purple book. Aang leaned over in his chair some more to see what she was writing – all of the important numbers and addresses they would ever need. He couldn't help but notice that her handwriting was very curly and slightly slanted. Her tongue stuck out in a cute little way because she was concentrating, and –

"Hey, Aang?"

Katara suddenly spinning in her chair to look at him shocked Aang to no end and he fell right out of his chair.

"Oh my gosh!" Katara said, standing up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Aang said, quickly getting off the ground to save himself from further embarrassment. "I'm great, perfect, just dandy!"

Katara gave him a quizzical look. "If you're sure…" she said. Aang sat back in his swivel chair. "Anyways, can I have your number?"

Aang blinked. "You want my – what?"

"Well, you know," Katara said. "Since we'll be working together every day for an entire year, we might need to get in contact sometimes, don'tcha think?"

Aang blinked again. "Oh! Yeah, that, uh… makes sense." He gave Katara his number and email address before she gave him hers.

"So you wanna start on these papers?" Katara asked.

Aang nodded. "Yeah, sounds good."

Katara walked over to his desk, looking at the papers over Aang's shoulder. Spirits, she was so close… and she smelled really good…

This had to be Aang's best job yet.

o-o-o-o

"I'm telling you, Toph, she's perfect."

It was just a little after seven, and Aang had made sure to call his blind best friend, Toph, right after work to tell her about his fantastic day with Katara.

"_Yeah, Aang, as interesting as this is, I'm trying to eat and talk at the same time here, so you better wrap this up quickly."_

Aang switched his cell phone into his other hand as he continued his walk home. "Okay, I'll just sum up. She's beautiful, she's funny, she's kind, she's intelligent –"

"_Is she shorter than you?"_

"Why?"

He heard an annoyed sigh. _"It's a known fact that a guy can't date a girl taller than him! It looks wrong!"_

Aang furrowed his eyebrows. "Like you would know what does and doesn't look good!"

"_What kind of person brings someone else's disability into an argument? Low blow, Twinkle Toes, low blow."_

Aang rolled his eyes. "Like you even care. And, as a matter of fact, Katara _is _shorter than me."

"_Katara? As in Katara Chi?"_

Aang paused on the sidewalk. "You know her?"

"_Well, you know those two guys, Sokka and Zuko, that always come into me and Iroh's restaurant?"_

"Yeah."

"_Katara is Sokka's sister."_

"Oh, really?" Aang said and began walking again. "Weird."

"_Sokka's always talking about her. Despite the many stories about his stupid arguments with her, she _does_ sound pretty cool. You gonna ask her out?"_

"Are you _kidding?"_ Aang said rather loudly. "I can't ask her out! She's way out of my league! Plus, someone like her has probably already got a boyfriend."

"_Well, you're never gonna find out if you don't put yourself out there, dumb-egg!"_

"Come on, I can't ask her out if she's got a boyfriend, I'd look like a jerk!"

"_Then just slip it into casual conversation. Come on, it's in all the movies! Now really, I'm starving over here, so I'll see you tomorrow, all right?"_

"Yeah. Bye, Toph." Aang hung up the phone. Slip it into casual conversation, huh? He guessed it wouldn't hurt to just find out if she was seeing anyone…

o-o-o-o

"Morning, Katara!" Aang greeted as he walked into their office.

"Morning, Aang," Katara smiled. "Ready for all this paperwork we have to start on? Apparently, they were going easy on us yesterday." She stared in despair at the large pile of papers.

"Yeah, I'm good to go," Aang said. He walked over to his own desk, which he had not gotten around to personalizing yet, and began flipping through the stack of paperwork. Casual conversation… casual…

"So," Aang said, "did you do anything interesting last night? Visit family, watch TV, go on a date with your long-term boyfriend…?"

Aang mentally scolded himself. Yeah, _that_ had been casual.

Katara shook her head, but kept her eyes on her work. "No, none of that."

None of that?! She was boyfriend-less! Katara wasn't seeing anyone! Now Aang would be free to ask her out! …Whenever he got the courage…

Katara continued on, though. "I share an apartment with my brother, so I see him all the time, and we visit our dad and Gran-Gran on Sundays. Nothing good was on TV last night, and my boyfriend is away this weekend – something about work, he said."

Damn. Just… damn.

"Oh, so you… you have a boyfriend, huh?" Aang asked, though his heart wasn't entirely into it.

"Mhmm," she said, still not looking up from her papers.

"How long have you been… err, y'know, together?"

Katara finally stopped working and spun in her chair to face Aang. She looked thoughtful. "Let's see… three months? Four? Somewhere in between there."

"Ah," Aang nodded, hands clenched so hard that he thought his fingernails would break through his skin any minute. "So you guys must be pretty serious."

Katara sighed. "That's where the trouble's been. We've been going out for a while now, and I don't think he wants to get much more serious than we already are. And I don't want that!" She rolled her chair closer to Aang. "I want to get married someday. Maybe not right now, but I want to know that my relationship is going somewhere! You know what I mean?"

Aang's eyes were wide. Married to Katara… "Err… yeah. Completely."

Katara gave a small smile before continuing. "He's great and all, but Jet can be-"

Aang couldn't help but interrupt. _"Jet?_ Jet _Trili? _Your boyfriend is _Jet Trili?"_

Katara looked confused. "Yeah. How do you know him?"

"He and I…" How was Aang supposed to tell Katara that her boyfriend was, to put it lightly, an _ass?_ Although, it _would _make it more likely the two would break up… but he couldn't do that. He was too nice for that!

_Curse his niceness!_

"We used to work together."

"Oh, really? I don't think he ever mentioned you…"

"Yeah, I bet he didn't…" Aang muttered. Speaking louder, he said, "So, what's _good ol' Jet_ been up to?"

Katara thought for a moment. "Y'know, I'm not entirely sure. He's never been very specific about his job. He just says he does business out of town. Somewhere in Gaoling, I think."

"Really?" Business? What kind of business would a guy like Jet even be interested in?

But that's not what Aang was worried about right now. If Jet and Katara were having problems… "Are you thinking of breaking up with him?"

"Hmm." Katara rolled back to her desk and leaned her head on her hand. "I dunno, Aang…" She trailed off before she stood up rather abruptly. "I'm gonna go to Starbucks real quick. What do you want?"

"Oh! Err, a latte, I guess." Aang froze. _"I mean,_ coffee. Black coffee. No sugar or anything, 'cause that's just how _macho_ I am. …Yeah."

Katara laughed. "Latte it is. I'll be right back." She grabbed her purse and walked out the door.

_Jet? _Her boyfriend was _Jet?_ How – how was that even _possible?_ That jerk, that swine, that – was there even a word for the man who put Aang through every awful thing while they were working together? At least Katara wasn't too happy with him. That was good… yeah, that might be a little bit of an upside.

Business… what kind of work would Jet get off his lazy butt to do anyway? That _was_ sort of odd… but as long as he and Katara were done soon, and as long as he never had to see him again, Aang would be just fine.

A L I T T L E B I T L A T E R

"I'm back!" Katara said, grinning, carrying two steaming cups in her hands.

"Great," Aang said. As much "fun" as it was thinking of Jet and Katara doing couple-y things with each other, it made him thirsty. Katara handed him one of the hot cups. "What did you get?"

"Coffee," Katara answered. "Black coffee. No sugar or cream, because I'm _macho_ like that."

Aang felt himself turning pink as Katara laughed. He let out a nervous chuckle himself. "I got hot tea," Katara said.

"Funny thing," she continued. "I ran into Jet on my walk over there."

Aang nearly spit out the coffee he had been sipping. "Oh, really," Aang said. He tried to sound casual, but it came out sounding strangled.

She nodded. "Yeah. I told him I had to get back to work, so we only talked for a little bit, but you know what he told me?"

"What's that?"

"Jet actually apologized for the way he's been acting!" Katara said. "And then he promised he'd come visit me at work sometime in the next month! His job is really important to him; he never takes time off work, so he must feel really bad…" Katara smiled. "I guess things aren't as bad as I thought they were."

The only things Aang heard, though, were that Jet and Katara weren't breaking up any time soon…

…and Jet was coming to visit.

Joy.

o-o-o-o

It was an entire two months and half later. Aang and Katara had gotten to know each other very well over that time and were very close. Unfortunately, as Aang grew more smitten with Katara with each passing day, Katara was diving further and further into her relationship with Jet, and Aang couldn't stand it.

He especially couldn't stand it when Jet was finally able to visit the two interns at work.

"Hey, babe," Jet said as he walked casually through the office door, hands in his pocket. Spirits, he was smooth. Curse his suaveness.

"Hey, Jet," Katara said. She stood up from her desk and walked over to greet him with a kiss on the cheek. "You were finally able to come over!"

Jet didn't seem to hear her. "Come on, Katara, give me a real kiss!"

Aang felt the need to bang his head on the desk as hard as he possibly could.

Katara turned bright red. "Jet, we're in front of-"

"Aw, Aang doesn't care, he's cool! Kiss me, baby." Jet stepped rather close to Katara – too close for Aang's liking.

Katara's eyes narrowed. She shoved Jet away. "Jet, you're embarrassing me. _Stop it."_

Aang silently cheered.

Jet rolled his eyes. "Whatever, sure, sorry." He turned to look at Aang. "Good to see you again, man."

"Yeah," Aang said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "It's just _awesome."_

No one seemed to notice his tone, though. "So your place here is pretty dull," Jet said, looking around the small room.

Katara shook her head. "It was worse before. After Aang and I fixed our desks up, it looked much better. Aang and I were going to go shopping tomorrow to see if we could find anything to-"

Aang was sure Jet shot him a glare. _What the…?_ "No, no, babe, you don't need to do shopping with Aang, I'll go with you."

"No," Katara said, "I need Aang to come with me. _He's_ the one sharing this office with me, I need _his _opinion."

Jet looked like he was about to retort but after the look Katara gave him, he must have decided not to.

Jet turned to Aang again. "So how've you been, man? Haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm all right," Aang said. "Nothing particularly great has happened."

"Yeah?" Jet said. He brought Katara closer to him. _"This _is the greatest thing that's happened to me." And he proceeded to grab her butt.

A loud smack was heard as Katara's hand collided with Jet's face as Aang stood up in anger.

"Katara, what the hell?!" Jet shouted.

"That's what _I _should be saying!" Katara was nearly yelling. "What, you think you can just grab me whenever you want?! That's not how it works, Jet! What kind of perverted pig _are_ you?"

"You're my girlfriend, I _think_ I can-"

"Jet," Aang spoke up, "you can't come into our office and pull off crap like that. We're professionals in here, okay? I think you should _leave."_

Jet glared at Aang, looking him up and down. "You can't tell me what to-"

"Get out of here!!" Katara shouted. Jet looked between the two of them before spinning on his heel and slamming the door as he stormed out.

Katara plopped herself down on her chair. Elbows on the desk, she held her head in her hands.

Aang wasn't sure what to do. He took a cautious step towards her. "Katara…?"

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Katara said.

"It's fine, Katara, it's fine," Aang said, taking another step closer. "Are things between you and him always…?"

Katara sadly shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes. It's just… half the time, he's so sweet and charming, and then the other half the time, he's… _that. _And I hate _that, _but I really like the sweet and charming guy, and I'm not sure if I want to…" She trailed off.

Aang crouched down next to her and began to rub her back. "Katara, don't worry about it. Jet is stupid. He's always been stupid, ever since I first met him. It's just the way he is, and even though you may like Jet half the time, the other half you can't stand him, so… shouldn't you break up with him?"

Katara barely nodded her head. "Yeah. Yes, Aang, you're right, you're right, you're always right." She reached around Aang and hugged him tightly, and even though Aang was upset because Katara was, he couldn't help but feel amazing inside because of the embrace.

And the fact that Katara was breaking up with Jet helped a little bit, too.

o-o-o-o

"G'morning, Katara," Aang smiled as she walked through the door.

"Hey, Aang," Katara said, sitting down at her desk.

"Mr. Shui wants us to look at this file today," Aang said, holding up said file. "There's some big group of people going around killing the descendents of the Fire Nation that started that 100 Year War all those years ago, remember? They're crazy, and they're serious, but the guys don't have a solid lead. They think they have some kind of headquarters, but they're not sure. They want us to see if we can find any kind of pattern in their hits."

"Sounds like a plan," Katara said.

Aang was curious to see how her breakup had gone last night, so he asked Katara, "How was last night?"

Katara bit her lip. "It was the usual. I fought with Sokka, we forgot about it when we started watching Star Wars, Jet came over and apologized and we stayed together, I went out and visited my friend Suki-"

Aang did a double take. "You're staying together with Jet?!"

"Well," Katara said, almost as if she was regretting her decision, "he came over and was really sweet about the whole thing before he apologized, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it…"

"Katara," Aang said sternly, "you _have_ to break up with this guy!"

"_No… _I don't _have_ to…"

Aang looked around the room in disbelief. "Jet is making your life miserable, Katara, you can't do this to yourself!"

Katara sighed. "Aang, I can do whatever I want. I'm a big girl."

"But Katara! When Jet hurts you like this, _I _get hurt, because I-" Whoa. He had almost just admitted that he loved her.

Yeah. Love. Aang was already there.

"…because I care about you," Aang finished. "This is getting ridiculous, _please,_ just-"

"I'm not feeling too good," Katara stood up abruptly. She grabbed her bag. "Tell Mr. Shui I'm taking a sick day."

Aang stood. "No, wait, Katara…"

The door slammed closed.

o-o-o-o

Two more months passed after the Jet-Visiting-The-Office fiasco. Aang was still hopelessly in love with Katara. Katara and Jet were still together, much to Aang's displeasure. Fortunately, after their fight, Aang and Katara had made up and were closer than ever. Every morning, they had their latte and tea together, and it was what Aang looked forward to every day.

One morning, though, Katara came in without the usual Starbucks cups.

"Hey, Katara," Aang said. He noticed her empty hands. "Where's the coffee?"

"Sorry," Katara said shortly. "Must've forgotten." Instead of sitting down and starting on the murder case they were still trying to figure out, she began to pace back and forth.

Aang sighed. "Is it Jet?"

Katara stopped pacing. "Yes. _Yes,_ it's that _jerk,_ like it always is! He told me to _quit my job!"_

"Why would he tell you to do that? You love your job!"

Katara faltered. "I… I don't wanna tell you."

Aang put down his pen. "Come on, you can tell me. You know that."

"But…"

"Please?"

Katara let out a deep breath and sat on her desk. "It's because of you, Aang."

Aang was stunned. "He – what?"

"Yeah, I know," Katara began to fiddle with various things sitting on her desk. "He says that I talk about you too much, that I care more about you than I do him… it's ridiculous. So I told him to shove it, and then I came over here to work."

Aang had to keep himself from smiling. _Jet_ was jealous of _him?_ _There_ was something he never thought he'd see happen.

But Katara was still upset. "Katara, I… I don't know what to tell you."

"That's fine," Katara said, getting off her desk and into her chair, "because I don't know what to think. But I know I'm not quitting."

She pulled out her own copy of the murder file. "So have you been able to find anything today?"

Aang shook his head. "Not really. All I've been able to find is that all of their hits have been within 40 miles of the Old Earth Kingdom."

"You think they're hiding out somewhere there?"

"Probably. But there are a million abandoned towns and cities there; I don't know which one it would be."

"It'd take too long to search all of them, right?"

"Right."

Katara took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "Well… do we have any more information on them?"

"They're calling themselves the Freedom Fighters," Aang said. "All we know about their leader is that he goes by 'Airplane' for whatever reason."

"Airplane?" Katara questioned. "That's… I don't even know what that is. Do you think he's a pilot?"

"I doubt it," Aang answered. "That'd be a little too obvious."

"True," Katara said.

Aang began to tap his pen repeatedly on his desk. "There's got to be something we're missing."

Katara stretched her arms. "We'll find it eventually," she said.

But Aang couldn't help but feel like there was something very important he was missing…

o-o-o-o

Another month passed by, and Aang and Katara still hadn't come any closer to finding any more information on the Freedom Fighter case. Maybe this was too big for them… they were only supposed to do minor cases, and here they were attempting to figure out a humongous murder case – one that was still going on! People were dying every day, and them finding nothing was causing it to go on even longer. They needed to find something soon…

Aang and Katara were getting ready to leave the office. They still hadn't found anything new.

"Any plans for tonight, Aang?" Katara asked.

"I might go visit Toph at the restaurant," Aang said. "You?"

"I'm driving up to the Old Earth Kingdom," Katara answered, continuing to put her things away even as Aang stopped.

"The Old Earth Kingdom? Why?"

"I'm doing it. I'm breaking up with Jet."

"_You're breaking up with Jet?!"_ Aang shouted. "That's _great! _Katara, that's _fantastic!"_

"I'm just sick of it," Katara said. "It's got to be done! I should be back by tomorrow no prob, though."

"Awesome, just awesome. Take as long as you need, really!"

Katara rolled her eyes. She clutched her purse, said, "Wish me luck!" over her shoulder, and walked out the door.

Aang jumped in the air. It was about time! Katara would finally be rid of that jerk and then, maybe she would be Aang's.

o-o-o-o

It was 9:38 and Katara still wasn't at work. Aang was starting to worry – she said she'd be at work at 8:00 like usual, but she wasn't there. Maybe something had gone wrong last night… Maybe he should call her, just to make sure she was all right…

Aang took out his cell phone and dialed Katara's number. The phone rang three times before someone answered.

"Yo," they said. It was a man's voice, definitely not Katara's, but it definitely wasn't Jet's either.

"Who is this?" Aang asked, almost angrily.

"Listen," the man said, "Katara can't make it to the phone right now, kay?"

"Tell me who you are!" Aang was shouting now. "Where is Katara?"

"Maybe I don't wanna tell you," the man said. "Now don't call here again, I got things to do, all right?"

"_No, _it's not all right! What have you done with Katara?!"

Nobody answered. Aang looked at the screen of his phone; the man had hung up.

Something serious had happened to Katara, something awful and bad. Aang had to find her, bring her back to safety. The problem was, he had no idea where in the Old Earth Kingdom she had gone. It would be nearly impossible to find her. Oh, but he had to…

Wait. The Old Earth Kingdom. Katara had driven up to the Old Earth Kingdom… where all the Freedom Fighter murdering had been taking place near…

"_He's never been very specific about his job. He just says he does business out of town. Somewhere in Gaoling, I think."_

According to Katara, Jet worked in Gaoling which happened to be in the Old Earth Kingdom. He was very unspecific about his job… what if Jet was the one behind all of these murders?

"_He told me to quit my job!"_

Jet hadn't wanted Katara to quit because he was jealous of Aang. It was because Katara had been put on this case! He knew Katara was smart, he knew she would eventually figure out it was him behind all of these murders, so he tried to sever any ties between her and the case!

"_All we know about their leader is that he goes by 'Airplane' for whatever reason."_

Airplane? Jet? A jet was a type of plane, it made sense he would be called Airplane! This was it, it had to be Jet behind all of these murders –

Oh, _Spirits, _murders?! A group of murderers were holding Katara captive?! Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no…

"_I'm doing it. I'm breaking up with Jet."_

That must not have made Jet very happy… dear Agni, what were they doing with Katara? He needed to go after her. He would need backup though.

He quickly dialed Mr. Shui's office. _"Hello?"_ he answered.

"Sir," Aang said, "Katara is missing. She's gone, she didn't show up at work this morning."

"_Well, I'm very sorry to hear that, but did you ever consider that maybe she's late? Or sick?"_

"She was just fine yesterday, sir, but I think that her being missing has to do with the Freedom Fighter case."

"_Aang, I highly doubt these Freedom Fighter characters would need anything with Miss Chi."_

"Her boyfriend is with them, though, he's the _leader_ of the Freedom Fighters! I'm sure of it! Katara was on her way to break up with him last night, and she drove out to the Old Earth Kingdom to do it; nobody lives there anymore! Isn't it odd that her boyfriend is there? And-"

"_Aang,"_ Ling Shui interrupted. _"I'm sorry to tell you this, but I think you're just being paranoid. It's only natural that you'd feel worried about Katara since you've most likely become very close to her after working with her all this time, but really! Do you _actually_ think that Katara has been kidnapped by the Freedom Fighters?"_

"Mr. Shui, sir, I _know _it, I-"

"_Get back to work, Gyatso."_ Aang heard the dial tone.

He slammed his fist on the desk. Why wouldn't Shui listen to him? This was dire, this was important!

Fine then. He'd just go on his own.

Aang dialed Toph's number as fast as he was able.

"_Hey, Twinkle Toes! Lady trouble again?"_

Toph laughed, but Aang was serious. "Toph, I need you to listen carefully. This is very important."

The laughing stopped almost immediately. _"Oh… okay, what's the matter?"_

Aang began to gather things as he talked. "Katara's been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend who turned out to be the leader of the Freedom Fighters."

"Spirits! _Those guys on the news?! They're brutal! Okay, tell me what to do."_

"You said her brother Sokka is always at the restaurant. Talk to him, find him, call him, get a hold of him somehow. Tell him about Katara, and then tell him to get his father – he's the police chief for the Southern Waters Police Department. He should be able to get his department to come down and deal with the Freedom Fighters and rescue Katara. They're in the abandoned town of Gaoling in the Old Earth Kingdom. He should look for the largest empty building he can find – that's where they'll most likely be. You got that?"

"_Yeah, I got it. Aang, you're not going over _right now,_ are you? On your_ own?"

"Sorry, Toph, gotta go."

"_You meat head, what are you, crazy?! You can't –!"_ Aang snapped his phone shut.

He pulled his drawer open, pulling out the bulletproof vest that read 'FBI' and putting in on in one swift motion. He grabbed his gun and wore it on his belt; he rolled up his dress shirt sleeves to his elbows. Running a hand through his dark hair, Aang walked out the door, a man on a mission.

o-o-o-o

Aang found that the largest building in Gaoling he could find was an old toy warehouse. He parked his car quite a bit away, though, so as not to alert the gang. He walked lightly and cautiously, careful to stay out of sight and soundless. He reached the window of the building and peeked through; it was dark, and he could barely see anything.

Aang rubbed the glass, hoping it would clear his vision some. It did – he could just make out a large room filled with nothing but piles of boxes and men of all sizes, gathered in a makeshift circle around their leader, Jet, and a certain woman, bound and gagged.

"Katara…" Aang whispered, his hand unconsciously reaching out to her but only coming in contact with the window. She looked unharmed – that was good. But he needed to get her out of here before she _was_ harmed. That was all that was important right now. Chief Hakoda would take care of the Freedom Fighters.

Aang needed to focus.

The front door wasn't an option. The door was rusty and would make too much noise. Perhaps a window… yes, this window would do, even. It was already open just a smidge; it would be no problem opening more.

Aang pushed the window up, as slowly as he could to not make it squeak. He crawled through the hole and hid behind the nearest box pile. Fortunately, no one noticed. They were all sickeningly obsessed with Jet, hanging on his every word.

"Everyone got it?" Jet said. His voice carried and echoed through the large warehouse. Everyone nodded their heads in understanding.

The front door creaked open. Every head in the circle turned to the open door, guns out and ready to shoot. The man who walked in, a tall and lanky boy with a large hat, seemed to be familiar though, for all the guns were lowered once he was recognized.

"Longshot," Jet. "Glad you made it back. I'll go over things one more time for you."

Longshot merely nodded before joining the men in the circle. He noticed Katara, though, and motioned to her.

"That's what I was _getting_ to explaining, Longshot," Jet said. "This is Katara." He ran a hand through her hair. Katara glared up at him from her position on the ground. "Gorgeous, isn't she?"

Katara swung her body around, having her elbow collide with Jet's chest as hard as she could.

Jet reeled back a step. "_Damn_ it," he said. He grabbed Katara by the hair and brought her forcefully closer to his face. Aang nearly jumped from his hiding spot, but remembered that he couldn't if he ever wanted to help Katara.

"Try something like that again and I'll kill you so fast you won't even have time to blink," Jet said menacingly. Katara would have retorted, but the gag kept her from doing so, so she merely glared.

Jet shoved her back to the ground. "Katara here is our bait. She found our hideout here, so we might as well use her, right? She is currently working for the FBI, a rather important assistant to some of the top agents."

The group began to mutter amongst themselves.

"She's obviously valuable. And, sooner or later, they'll notice she's missing. And once they do, they'll need to find her, and _we'll_ be the ones to have her. We'll give the FBI they're little intern back as soon as they promise to execute all of the ruthless Fire Nation citizens that plague the world!"

Every man in the circle gave a loud cheer.

Jet, grinning maniacally by this point, crouched on the ground next to Katara. He grabbed her chin and made her look at him. "And then," Jet said, "we'll murder her anyways."

As Katara ripped her head from Jet's grip and the circle gave another cheer, Aang found he couldn't stand it anymore. He swiftly and quickly took his gun, aimed, and shot the window.

The shattering glass made every head in the room turn to look. Aang made sure that he was hidden as best he could. All was silent until Jet shouted, "Well, don't just sit here, someone go look outside!"

A very small man, almost child-sized, quickly got up and ran to the window. Peeking outside, he said, "Airplane, there's an _FBI_ car out there!"

"_What?!"_ Jet hurried to the window and looked out. "I – I don't –" He seemed to be speechless. He began muttering to himself. "Okay, we can either go out and ambush them or convince them this is all some kind of misunderstanding… there's only one car, so there can't be many…"

He turned to the others. "We're attacking. Let's go." Every person in the room, minus Katara, Aang, and Jet, began to scramble, gathering weaponry, and seemed to all run out the front doors at once, muttering that they needed to hurry before more agents showed up.

Jet hadn't left, though. He walked over to Katara and grabbed the ropes that kept her bound. "What did you do?" he shouted menacingly in her face. Katara made no movement – to show that she had or otherwise. "You called someone, didn't you? _Tell me what you did."_

He was shaking her by now, but Katara refused to make any signs to answer Jet's questions, and he was beginning to get angry. He pulled a knife out of his back pocket. Aang took a sharp breath, feeling his breathing get faster and faster. "I don't need you, you know," he threatened, the steel blade held at Katara's throat. "I could kill you right now, and I wouldn't give a damn." Still, Katara wouldn't budge.

Jet roared in frustration, throwing his knife to match his chagrin. He turned back to her. "Shui? Did you call him? Did you call that Gyatso kid? Or –" Jet stopped in his tracks as he seemed to make a realization.

"You didn't call anyone, did you? Your little boyfriend probably noticed the second you were missing, and he gathered a little gang together, didn't he?" Picking his knife up off the ground, Jet said to Katara, "When I get back here, let's see how much longer you live compared to your boy toy."

He stomped out the door, knife poised in his hand.

Aang waited a few short moments to make sure the room was entirely empty. He heard Katara take a long, slightly shaky breath in, but besides that the room was completely silent. Without waiting any longer, he ran from behind the boxes and towards Katara.

Katara looked up abruptly, hearing the quick footsteps. Aang saw that her eyes were glistening, looking as if she had been on the verge of tearing up. These same eyes widened as she noticed it was Aang, and they seemed to fill even more with water.

Aang dropped to his knees when he reached her, the love of his life. "Katara?" He held her face in his hands. "Katara, are you okay?"

Katara nodded her head rapidly, trying to keep herself from crying. Aang looked over her; she seemed to be unharmed except for a few bruises from being thrown on the ground. He sighed in relief. He hugged her tightly, and he felt her body wracking from sobs she was trying to contain.

"It's okay," he said. "It'll be just fine. This is what we've been trained for, remember? I know this thing about Jet has come as a shock to you, but we gotta stay strong, just for a minute, okay? We don't have much time – I'm the only one here, there's not really a group outside. We have to hurry, all right?"

He pulled back. Katara nodded, her tears slowing rapidly. And though he knew it was a completely inappropriate time to do so, Aang couldn't stop himself from untying the gag around Katara's mouth and, before she could say anything, kissing her.

Aang needed to pull away – he knew he needed to if they both wanted to live – but he couldn't bring himself to do so, and from what he could tell, Katara couldn't either. It felt so good, to finally be doing this. It seemed to last an eternity, but they finally pulled away when they heard someone in the room say, "Well, look who it is."

The two snapped their heads toward the door. Jet, standing in all of his infamous glory, seemed to be calmly seething.

"I knew you were here," he said, stepping closer and closer to Aang and Katara as he spoke. "The guys are waiting outside, expecting an ambush at any time, but I know it's just you here. Just you and your pathetic little love-struck self, right?"

Aang stood up, fists clenched. "Jet, you low-life. I always knew you were evil, but this kind of evil is something I never would have imagined."

"Believe it, airhead." By this time, Jet was nearly nose to nose with Aang. A glaring war seemed to have been ensued between the two.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to Katara," Aang nearly growled. "How dare you –"

The wind was knocked out of him as he was kicked to the ground by Jet. When he looked up from the ground, he saw the messy-haired man holding Katara in his grip, a gun pointed straight at her temple.

"Move an inch from that spot," Jet dared. "See what happens."

Aang stayed still, frozen to the spot. He couldn't risk Katara's life.

Katara seemed to care less, though. She began to squirm like no other. She kicked and flailed as she struggled for freedom from Jet's strong hold on her.

"Stop your moving!" Jet shouted, tightening his hold.

"If you think I'm just gonna stand around and let you hold me, you're stupider than I thought," Katara said.

Jet forced her to look him in the eyes. "Listen closely," he snarled. _"I_ am the one who's calling the shots here, not you. So you better damn well do what I tell you to do, got it?"

"You always were an ass," Katara said, and spat in his face.

Jet roared in protest. He threw Katara to the floor and cocked his gun. "Say goodbye, _baby."_

Aang panicked. _"Katara, no!"_ Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he finally moved. He jumped towards Katara, feeling as if he couldn't move fast enough. When he was on top of her and holding her, though, ready to take any bullet Jet shot for her, the world was back to normal.

But as Aang waited for excruciating pain, nothing came.

Aang finally took the chance to look up. FBI agents and officers from the Southern Waters Police Department surrounded them, every weapon pointed at a flustered and angry Jet. He happened to notice two particularly angry-looking men standing in front of the Southern Waters men – a young man whose hair was pulled back in what seemed to be a ponytail and an older man that looked to be the chief of the department, both the spitting image of Katara.

Aang sighed in relief as he got off of Katara and began to untie her. Everything would be all right now, everything.

As Aang undid the last knot, Katara nearly leaped onto him, hugging him tightly. "Aang…" she sighed. He could feel her smiling into his shoulder.

Yes, everything would be perfect.

o-o-o-o

Aang was excited and nervous all at once. Katara had been whisked away from him that fateful day in Gaoling to take care of her, for questioning, and to see her family and friends. Mr. Shui had given her a week off to relax (Aang was given a day off to apologize for not believing him in the first place), so Aang hadn't seen or talked to her since.

He was unsure what to say to her, especially after their kiss.

At 8:00 on the dot, though, Katara walked in with the two coffee cups in her hand, as normal as ever.

Placing her tea on her own desk, she said, "Good morning, Aang."

Aang hadn't expected things to be so eerily normal. He wasn't sure what to say, so he settled for, "Uh… morning, Katara."

It was silent for a short moment as Katara flipped through the piled up paperwork on her desk. Aang felt the need to bring up that fateful kiss from that fateful day. But should he…?

He took a chance. "Katara," he said.

Katara walked over to his desk with his latte and put it on his desk. "Yeah?"

"Look, about that… _kiss_ last week–" Aang was cut off as Katara pressed her lips against his.

When she finally pulled away, she asked, "What about it?"

Aang sat in confusion before he began to grin like a maniac. "I was just gonna ask if you wanted to have dinner later."

"Sounds great," said Katara, grinning as well.

And suddenly, the usually dull office seemed to be that much brighter.

o-o-o-o-o

A/N: There's no doubt that this is the most mature fic I've ever written. I hope I did okay with it. I don't like using bad language, but when it fits so well into the story, I can't help it.

Anyways, notes about the story! It is an outrageous 21 pages long with over 8,000 words to boot (not including the A/Ns ;)). _That's right. _I'm awfully proud. :)

On more story-related notes, though, I was really conflicted about Jet coming to the office. I needed to show that Jet was a humongous jerk. I needed Katara and Aang to both get mad at him, and I needed that guy out of there to show how Katara and Jet really were a bad couple with a rocky relationship, and that Aang was starting to love Katara and stand up for her. The first thing that came to mind? Jet doing something totally inappropriate. That would do the trick, but it just seemed so… sophomoric to me, y'know? I dunno, I just didn't like it much, but with lack of a better idea, I was forced to keep it in.

The climax, with Jet finding Aang and Katara, I found was sort of… anti-climactic. I could have had a big fight sequence, I guess, and I tried, but it just didn't seem right. It could be that I'm awful at writing fight sequences, though.

And yeah, Jet is crazy. Seriously, what's wrong with that guy? And why do I always insist he be my antagonist?

Aang's password. Not important to the story at all, but he needed to do something while Katara started to scribble away, so I had him set up the computer. The Beatles are truly one of the greatest bands of all time (in my opinion, of course), and while Hard Days Night isn't my favorite song, I felt it described the situation of the story very well. So… yeah. Just a tidbit of a not-so-interesting fact.

I know nothing about the FBI. Sorry.

But yes, this is probably the most mature thing I've written on this site so far, but I do like how it turned out for the most part. And by the way… my title. Real original, am I right? Sigh. Anyways, this is the most thought-out story I've ever done, so I really hope you enjoyed it. :D

p.s. I'm sorry about my really long author's note… hehe?

**NOW REVIEW!! OR ELSE SIMBA WILL ROAR AT YOU PATHETICALLY LIKE HE DOES WHEN HE'S LITTLE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVIE!!!**

Sokka: Who's Simba?

Me: Simba? From "The Lion King"? …Really, you don't know??

Sokka: …

Me: …Oh geez…

_Tangy_


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